These include the first successful birth following pre-implantation genetic diagnosis in 1992 and the birth of the first baby from a frozen donated egg in 2001.

In 2002 the first child was born to a mother who had her own eggs frozen and in 2005, the law was changed to remove donor anonymity, allowing children to trace their donor parent once they reached the age of 18.

IVF treatment has seen a total of 200,000 babies born over the past 20 years who would not otherwise have existed.

Professor Lisa Jardine, chair of the HFEA, commented: "In the last twenty years the world of fertility treatment has improved enormously and tens of thousands of families have benefited directly as a result of IVF."